Issue 17
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Table of Contents:
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1. Here and there
A. Dan Bretlinger's CropKing has gone public by offering common stock at the initial price of US$7.00 per share. For those of you who don't know, CropKing is one of the largest greenhouse manufacturers in the United States. What distinguishes CropKing from others is the pre-packaged deals which enable a newcomer to start his own growing operation immediately. For a fee of course.
B. You might be able to see the following at your closest supplier. For those who like the ebb and flow method, bottom up feeding is something to consider. Sometimes referred to as BIU, bottom up feeding refers to mats composed of several layers of material especially designed to promote the flow of water (or nutrient) by means of capillary action.
You can place potted plants on top of the mats and the plants will be fed and watered from the bottom up. BIU is also available for dripline irrigation systems.
C. Cesar Marulanda has used his extensive knowledge about simple hydroponic setups to help feed the people of Columbia who have been devastated by last year's earthquake.
Using ordinary table systems which the natives built from wood and water and fed by hand plus training in the basics, these people have been able to recover from their distress. Fresh vegetables are difficult to obtain at any time in the tropics, but when you can grow them yourself, as these people have done with simple hydroponics, you more then reward yourself. You have a tool for overcoming any disaster.
But that isn't all. Now Cesar Marulanda plans to train hundreds of teachers to carry the message to as many of the poor as possible. This individual is a fine example of what can be done when philosophy goes hand in hand with practicality.
Don't ask me what design his table hydroponics might be - but some ideas may be had by looking at my book as discussed at (http://www.mayhillpress.com). Just about any adaptation of regular hydroponic techniques should do the trick.
D. Roots survive within three domains: oxygen, air and size. Nutrient which is continually aerated will do a great job in helping your plants grow at their best.
Just remember that 2/3 of the root system are known as water roots - the other third are air roots and they are at the top of the root system and must not be immersed in water or nutrient. Plants need both the air and water (or nutrient). As long as the bottom water roots get plenty of oxygen from the liquid, they will do fine. So avoid stagnant water at all costs.
An extensive root system is a sign of health and life in a plant.
In hydroponics, however, roots don't have to look far for oxygen and nutrient and therefor won't grow as far reaching as they would in soil. Nevertheless, even in hydroponics an extensive root system is to be desired.
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2. Black soldier flies to the rescue?
You bet! Now not only can you dispose of manure but you can have a protein by-product to feed to your livestock. You can only spread so much manure on the land for fertilization before enough becomes enough.
So what do you do with the excess? A chicken egg operation will usually hold around 100,00 laying hens from which you will not only get a bunch of eggs but an added "gift" of manure (15 tons of it!) each and every day. Whoa, Nelly! What can you do with the excess without violating environmental regulations?
Why just pick up the phone and dial: Black Soldier Fly. This one inch long insect will lay its eggs in your manure and reduce its bulk by at least one half. The half that's left won't be as toxic because it has been depleted of most of its nitrogen.
Black Flies are absolutely harmless to humans. What's more, they not only help keep down the regular house fly population but they themselves can also can be converted into a protein based feed for all your livestock. Now that's a freebee if ever I heard of one.
At the pre-pupate stage, when the fly's larva gets ready to change into an adult fly, it can be trained to climb ramps and into a feed mill where its body can make a feed additive which can contain 34% fat and 41% protein.
So far, there are no takers of import for this valuable idea, but Dr Craig Sheppard of the University of Georgia (who first proposed the idea) thinks it can be done. And Paul Oliver, CEO at Enginneeering, Separation and Recycling (Waxahachie, TX) is quite enthusiastic about the idea.
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3. Hydroponics in the tropics
For those who live in the tropics and want to know how a hydroponic greenhouse will work you should check out the Oh Chin Huat operation in Singapore.
This outfit has learned how to adopt hydroponic techniques to the climate. What makes Oh Farms operation really unusual is the size and makeup of its 215 greenhouses which cover an area of about two and a half hectares.
With the use of computers the people at Oh Farms have designed greenhouses which allow for a maximum of ventilation. This method decreases heat and heat traps in the greenhouses. Naturally, this would be very important for those would-be growers who live in tropical and even some of the temperate hot regions. Oh Farms also uses DRF or dynamic root floating.
The details go like this.
What I like about the greenhouse setup is the size and dimensions of each structure. Each house or unit is about 7 feet wide and 59 feet long with a total area of 413 sq ft or about 1/7 the size of one of our regular greenhouses. The height at the center is a little over six feet with about 4 1/2 to 5 ft height at the sides.
A sheet of plastic is used for the roof to keep out the rain and a plastic mesh made for repelling insects is used for the side walls and ends. The greenhouses are placed far enough apart to allow for good ventilation and decrease the possibility of heat traps. The spacing of the separate greenhouses prevents diseases from spreading from one house to the other.
And how's this for simplicity. Inside the greenhouses are troughs lined with black plastic. These hold the nutrient solution which is kept at an average depth of about 2 inches. This leaves plenty of room for the air roots to get oxygen.
Each trough is built to support trays made of polystyrene with holes for plant seedlings. The crop from planting seedlings in the holes to harvest takes 22 days on the average. Each house produces about a ton of produce a day.
One nutrient tank supplies six greenhouses. These nutrient tanks are also isolated from each other, again cutting down the possibility of disease transfers. The nutrient chemicals are imported.
By keeping out the insects with the plastic mesh and also by carrying on a strict regimen of cleanliness from start to finish, Oh Farms can guarantee produce which is free from pesticides. This is just one of the reasons why Oh Farms is the only outfit which can supply the Singapore market with fresh vegetables and herbs.
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4. Some interesting facts about hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) can be very helpful not only in hydroponics but also in regular dirt gardens. You can pretreat your city water supply and get rid of the chlorine as well as many pathogens and herbicide/pesticide residues. Organic matter plus sulfates both organic and methane which are often found in well water can also be reduced significantly if not altogether. Hydrogen Peroxide is also quite helpful at getting rid of and preventing algae.
Many growers don't realize how often they overwater their crops. This includes soil and hydroponic growers alike. Too often their plants die of lack of oxygen and get root rot. Hydrogen Peroxide, properly watered in, can give the root systems of your plants the oxygen they need to survive and grow.
The cheapest way to buy it is in the 35% solution. Dilute this down to 3% by mixing 11 units of water to one unit of hydrogen peroxide. Be sure to use what is known as "food grade" hydrogen peroxide. You can buy hydrogen peroxide already at a 3% solution but it is more expensive in this strength.
Be careful. Hydrogen peroxide is toxic to almost anything it touches, including your skin! About a year ago, my wife had a bad wound on her lower leg. The visiting nurse applied hydrogen peroxide to clean up the wound. But she cautioned me against using any more as it would eat up flesh around the wound too. So be careful and use rubber gloves.
That said, hydrogen peroxide can be a boon to your plants in helping to give the plants' roots systems more oxygen. Take about 1 teaspoon of your 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide and add it to a gallon of water. Start out there and build slowly to about 2 and 1/2 teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide 3% solution to one gallon of water. For new cuttings, use this new solution every time you water.
Hydroponic operations should use it every time you change the nutrient solution in your tank or reservoir. Use 3/tenths of a gallon of the 3% hydrogen peroxide solution to 100 gallons of nutrient solution. Every day after that continue to add 1/4 of that to your nutrient tank. (1/4 of 3/10 = .075 or a little over half of a tenth.) Keep the tank or reservoir nutrient temperature at around 63 degrees Fahrenheit.
For liters, use 300 ml to 100 liters of nutrient solution and 75 ml each day thereafter. You can get food grade hydrogen peroxide at or through feed stores, your nearest hydroponic supplier or a beauty shop. You can also get it at the drug store but it will be more expensive because the packaging will be smaller.
All in all, if you follow the above procedures CORRECTLY you will have healthier plants. Why? Because the hydrogen peroxide will keep the plant root systems clean and help make better and bigger crops.
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5. Whiteflies - Bug of the month
If you don't know what all those tiny white things are doing fluttering around your plants, you'll soon find out. Presently there will appear a sooty black mold covering the plant leaves. This mold grows from the honeydew which whiteflies put down. And this mold is what will actually kill your infested plants.
By the time you see this black mold, there'll be no mistake about it. Whiteflies will be all over the place. You can't miss them. The cure now is to get rid of the black mold by using a soapy solution to wash it away. After that you must get rid of the whiteflies, preferably with the use of beneficial insects.
Hopefully you know the signs of whiteflies well before everything like the above happens and have already taken measures to rid yourself of these pests.
Whiteflies are about 1/12 of an inch in length. When you brush a plant's leaves which have become infected, a cloud of the little flies arises and then settles back down upon the plant again. You need good eyes to see the thin honeydew which has been laid down upon the leaves and even better eyes to see the white scales clinging to the underside of a leaf.
These scales are the pupa of the whitefly. They feed on a plant's juice. Even the mature flies feed on plant juices. If the insect is not checked in its depredations, soon your plants will turn yellow and barely grow.
One method of getting rid of this pest is to use yellow sticky tapes specially designed for entrapping insects. Hang them all about the area in question. Keep in mind whiteflies (as well as other pests) are attracted to the color yellow. If you wear yellow they'll follow you from one end of the greenhouse to the other.
You can also shake the plants gently back and forth and have someone use a vacuum cleaner and suck the bugs up as they fly into the air. By far the best way to get rid of these pests is with the use of beneficial insects such as Encarsia formosa, a whitefly parasite. They're fast and voracious and won't take long to rid your plants of whiteflies.
For those of you who are interested in using beneficial insects and wish to know where to buy them for your own use, the bibliography in my book on "Beneficial insects - How to Mass-Rear for a Profit" is loaded with insectaries where you can find what you want. Go to http://www.mayhillpress.com/insects.html for more specifics.
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"How to Start on a Shoestring and Make a Profit with Hydroponics"
"Big Dollars Growing Gourmet Salad Greens"
"Beneficial Insects - How to Mass Rear and Make a Profit"
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